Government Unveils $878m Broadband Upgrade
Government Unveils $878m Broadband Upgrade
May 16th, 2006: The Federal Government has revealed a plan to spend $878 million plan to co-ordinate public and private investment in high-speed, nationwide broadband access.
The splurge has been announced by Helen Coonan, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts in a speech given to the Australian Telecommunications Users Group (ATUG) Regional Conference in Canberra.
Called Broadband Connect, Coonan says that the new initiative will see broadband services improved across the country in metropolitan and regional areas alike. This will be done by subsidising key broadband projects, as well as providing incentives for providers in an attempt to avoid the 'donut effect’ (major commercial rollouts in the largest metropolitan centres and nothing in between).
The Senator says that the plan will take a technologically-neutral approach, promoting a range of next generation networks utilising fibre, copper, wireless and satellite infrastructure.
“High speed networks, multi-megabit services and next generation broadband are the key to our future economic and social prosperity,” says Coonan. “This will see sustainable, open and scalable broadband infrastructure beyond the major metropolitan areas into regional centres, and across rural Australia.”
The plan is taking in a national approach as plugging holes in the current service could provide more costly and less sustainable in the long run.
“The remaining underserved areas and black spots are now more costly and problematic to address and a per-service approach may not provide the necessary scale to enable providers to roll out sustainable infrastructure,” Senator Coonan told the ATUG. “It is for these reasons that I consider it is time to take a fresh approach.
Senator Coonan will be seeking State and Territory agreement to the plan blueprint in September at the next meeting of the Online and Communications Council.
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